Yaqub Beg - The Death of Yakub Beg

The Death of Yakub Beg

His manner of death is unclear. The Times of London and the Russian Turkestan Gazette both reported that he had died after a short illness. The contemporaneous historian Musa Sayrami (1836–1917) states that he was poisoned on May 30, 1877 in Korla by the former hakim (local city ruler) of Yarkand, Niyaz Hakim Beg, after the latter concluded a conspiracy agreement with the Qing (Chinese) forces in Jungaria. however, Niyaz Beg himself, in a letter to the Qing authorities, denied his involvement in the death of Yakub Beg, and claimed that the Kashgarian ruler committed suicide. Some say (probably, without any basis in fact) that he was killed in battle with the Chinese

While the contemporaneous Muslim writers usually explained Yakub Beg's death by poisoning, and the suicide theory was apparently the accepted truth among the Qing generals of the time, modern historians, according to Kim Hodong, think that the natural death (of a stroke) is the most plausible explanation. Contemporaneous western sources say the Chinese got rid of him by poisoning him or some other sort of subversive act.). Westerners also say he was assassinated.

The exact date of Yakub Beg's death is also somewhat uncertain. Although Sayrami claimed that he died on April 28, 1877, modern historians think that this is impossible, as Przewalski met him, quite alive, on May 9. The Chinese sources usually gave May 22 as the date of his death, while Aleksey Kuropatkin thought it to be May 29. In any event, late May, 1877 is thought to be the most likely time period.

Yaqub Beg and his son Ishana Beg's corpses were "burned to cinders", on display, this angered the population in Kashgar, but Chinese troops quashed a rebellious plot by Hakim Khan to rebel. Four of his son's and two grandons were captured by the Chinese, one son was beheaded, one grandson died, and the rest were castrated and enslaved to soldiers. Surviving members of Yaqub Beg's family included his 4 sons, 4 grandchildren (2 grandsons and 2 granddaughters), and 4 wives. They either died in prison in Lanzhou, Gansu, or were killed by the Chinese. His sons Yima Kuli, K'ati Kuli, Maiti Kuli, and grandson Aisan Ahung were the only survivors in 1879. They were all underage children, and put on trial, sentenced to an agonizing death if they were complicit in their father's rebellious "sedition", or if they were innocent of their father's crimes, were to be sentenced to castration and serving as a eunuch slave to Chinese troops, when they reached 11 years old. In 1879, it was confirmed that the sentence of castration was carried out, Yaqub Beg's son and grandsons were castrated by the Chinese court in 1879 and turned into eunuchs to work in the Imperial Palace.